Shows / Wrongful Conviction
Wrongful Conviction
Hosted by celebrated criminal justice reform advocate and founding board member of the Innocence Project Jason Flom, Pulitzer prize-winning podcast host and producer Maggie Freleng, and Emmy Award-winning writer, producer and podcast host Lauren Bright Pacheco, Wrongful Conviction features intimate conversations with men and women who have spent years in prison for crimes they maintain they did not commit. Some have been fully exonerated and reunited with family and friends while others…
Episodes
Wrongful Conviction#125 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Billy Wayne Cope
Could I have somehow done this and not remembered it? Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin bring us the story of Billy Wayne Cope- a father and husband, a man of…
Wrongful Conviction#124 Jason Flom with Damien Echols in Times of COVID
COVID 19 has derailed our normal lives into that of isolation, restricted movement, anxiety, despair, and even the threat of death. Jason Flom knows a lot of…
Wrongful Conviction#123 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Hamid Hayat
How could anyone believe a confession about 1,000 pole-vaulting terrorists all dressed like Ninja Turtles? This week, Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin tell us a…
Wrongful Conviction#122 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Bonus Interview with Daniel Villegas
Laura Nirider talks with Daniel Villegas about what it was like waiting for the jury to announce its verdict, how he prepared his children for the possibility…
Wrongful Conviction#121 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Daniel Villegas
How can one man save the life of a perfect stranger? The case of Daniel Villegas shows how ordinary people can make an extraordinary difference in the fight…
Wrongful Conviction#120 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Teina Pora
Have you heard about New Zealand's Brendan Dassey? Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin take us across the globe to New Zealand with a story that hits way too close…
Wrongful Conviction#119 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Matt Livers
What do police do when a confession starts falling apart? Double down...or fix it up? Sometimes farm life isn’t as tranquil as it seems... Laura Nirider…
Wrongful Conviction#118 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Thomas Cogdell
While eating a hamburger, this kid spontaneously confesses to killing his sister? Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin take us to Camden, Arkansas, where a…
Wrongful Conviction#117 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Dixmoor 5
So their theory is that a wandering necrophiliac comes across the body and defiles it? Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin tell the story of how five Chicago teens…
Wrongful Conviction#116 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Robert Davis
What can I say I did to get me out of this? Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin use real interrogation audio to tell the shocking story of Robert Davis, a Virginia…
Wrongful Conviction#115 Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions - Origin Story
Why would anyone confess to a crime they didn’t commit? Hosts Laura Nirider and Steve Drizin, co-directors at Northwestern University’s Center on…
Wrongful Conviction#114 Jason Flom with Julie Rea
On October 13th, 1997, Julie Rea’s nightmare would begin, when an intruder broke into her home, killed her son Joel, and the authorities would begin a…
Wrongful Conviction#113 Jason Flom with Herman Atkins
Herman Atkins was a disciplined student athlete who enjoyed refurbishing old cars, growing up in the rigid household of a California highway patrolman. On…
Wrongful Conviction#112 Jason Flom with John Restivo
On December 5th, 1984, the naked body of Theresa Fusco was pulled out of a wooded area in Lynbrook, NY - the 3rd in a string of recent disappearances, putting…
Wrongful Conviction#111 Jason Flom with Stefon Morant
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, Stefon Morant and Scott Lewis were selling drugs for organized crime figure Frank Parise. When Frank was set to go…
Wrongful Conviction#110 Jason Flom with Patrick Pursley (Live from ComplexCon Chicago 2019)
On April 2nd, 1993, 22 year old Andrew Ascher and Becky George sat in his parked car by her brother’s apartment building on Silent Road in Rockford, IL…
Wrongful Conviction#109 Jason Flom with Perry Lott
At 1:15 AM on November 2nd, 1987, an Ada, Oklahoma woman felt a gun at the back of her head as she unlocked her door. She was robbed, burglarized, and raped by…
Wrongful Conviction#108 Jason Flom with Clemente Aguirre
Coming of age in Honduras, Clemente “Shorty” Aguirre was faced with a choice: join MS13 or die. He moved to Nicaragua with his grandmother instead…
Wrongful Conviction#106 Jason Flom with Nick Yarris Pt. 1
On December 16th, 1981, Linda Mae Craig was found beaten, raped, and stabbed to death in a church parking lot about a mile and a half away from where her car…
Wrongful Conviction#107 Jason Flom with Nick Yarris Pt. 2
In part 2 of the Nick Yarris story, we pick up where we left off with Nick turning himself in after his unintentional escape from death row. It’s about 3…
Wrongful Conviction#105 Jason Flom, John Grisham and Chip Harding with Jens Soering
This is an updated episode from season 8 with 22 minutes of new content. In 1985, Derek and Nancy Haysom were found brutally stabbed to death in their Bedford…
Wrongful Conviction#104 Jason Flom with Daniel Holtzclaw
At 2 AM, on June 18th, 2014, Daniel Holtzclaw finished up his shift as an Oklahoma City police officer and made his way home in his all black cruiser. He saw a…
Wrongful Conviction#103 Jason Flom with Bobbie Jean Johnson
Bobbie Jean Johnson was given up for adoption at birth, survived abuse in foster care, and ran away into the sex trade of New Orleans as a teenager. In 1977, a…
Wrongful Conviction#102 Jason Flom with Rodney Reed
Stacey Stites and Police Officer Jimmy Fennell were engaged, but Stacey was having an affair with Rodney Reed. On April 23rd, 1996, Stacey’s lifeless…
Wrongful Conviction#101 Jason Flom with Valentino Dixon
Although Valentino Dixon has never played golf, he wouldn’t have survived 27 years in prison–for a crime he did not commit–without it. A few…
Wrongful Conviction#100 Jason Flom with Dr. Yusef Salaam
On the night of April 19, 1989, a 28-year-old female jogger was brutally attacked and raped in New York’s Central Park. She was found unconscious with…
Wrongful Conviction#099 Jason Flom with Amanda Knox
This is an updated episode that originally aired on September 17, 2018. Amanda Knox was convicted of the murder of a 21-year-old British exchange student…
Wrongful Conviction#098 Jason Flom with Raymond Santana
Raymond Santana served 7 years in prison after being falsely accused of the rape and brutal beating of the Central Park Jogger in 1989. Raymond was just 14…
Wrongful Conviction#097 Jason Flom with Jimmy Dennis
On October 22, 1991, when 17-year-old Chedell Williams and a friend went to Fern Rock subway station in North Philadelphia, two men approached them and…
Wrongful Conviction#096 Jason Flom and Laura Nirider with Brendan Dassey
This special edition of Wrongful Conviction features Jason Flom’s exclusive interview with Brendan Dassey from behind bars—the only interview ever…
Wrongful Conviction#095 Jason Flom with Joe Berlinger
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the US found itself wrapped up in the “Satanic Panic” - a general state of fear revolving around…
Wrongful Conviction#094 Jason Flom with Messiah Johnson
On December 5th, 1997, two armed and disguised men robbed a beauty salon and its patrons in Norfolk, VA. On December 19th, Messiah Johnson was misidentified as…
Wrongful Conviction#093 Jason Flom with Gloria Killian
On December 9th, 1981, Stephen DeSantis and Gary Masse, disguised as telephone repair men, gained entry to the suburban home of Sacramento coin collector Ed…
Wrongful Conviction#092 Jason Flom with Kenzi Snider
On March 18, 2001, Jamie Penich—an American exchange student in South Korea—was brutally murdered in her motel room after a night of partying with…
Wrongful Conviction#091 Jason Flom with Harold "House" Moore
Harold “House” Moore was on top the world–he was one of the stars on the Fox award-winning series *Atlanta *and had just played Dr. Dre in…
Wrongful Conviction#090 Jason Flom with Matthew Charles
At age 30, Matthew was arrested for selling 216 grams of crack cocaine to an informant and illegally possessing a firearm. He was given a 35-year sentence. In…
Wrongful Conviction#089 Jason Flom with Darnell Phillips
Darnell Phillips served 28 years for a crime he did not commit. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the 1990 rape of a child in Virginia Beach. In…
Wrongful Conviction#088 Jason Flom with Vincent Atchity and Kelly Grimes
In this compelling interview, Vincent Atchity and Kelly Grimes join Jason Flom for a candid discussion about the criminal justice system and how it fails to…
Wrongful Conviction#087 Jason Flom with Fred Clay
In 1979, 28-year-old cab driver Jeffrey S. Boyajian was robbed and murdered when he was shot in the head five times after he picked up three men in a Boston…
Wrongful Conviction#086 Jason Flom with John Grisham
In this special edition of Wrongful Conviction, Jason Flom is joined by author John Grisham to discuss his work with the Innocence Project, his commitment to…
Wrongful Conviction#085 Jason Flom, John Grisham and Chip Harding with Jens Soering
Jens Soering is serving two consecutive life terms for a case of double homicide, the murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom in 1985–a crime he did not…
Wrongful Conviction#084 Jason Flom with Marty Tankleff - RE-RELEASE
This episode originally aired on November 7, 2016. Marty Tankleff had just turned 17 when he was arrested for murdering his parents, Seymour and Arlene…
Wrongful Conviction#083 Jason Flom with Jeffrey Deskovic - RE-RELEASE
In 1990, Jeffrey Deskovic was wrongfully convicted of the brutal rape and murder of his 15-year-old classmate, Angela Correa. Jeff was only 16 at the time of…
Wrongful Conviction#082 Jason Flom with Dusty Turner - RE-RELEASE
On June 19th, 1995, Dusty Turner was out at a bar with some friends in Virginia Beach, VA, including his roommate and training partner, Billy Brown. Dusty…
Wrongful Conviction#081 Jason Flom with Sunny Jacobs - RE-RELEASE
In 1976, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs was sentenced to death for the murders of Florida Highway Patrol officer Phillip Black and Donald Irwin, a visiting…
Wrongful Conviction#080 Jason Flom with Crystal Weimer - RE-RELEASE
Curtis Haith was beaten to death and shot outside of his home in western Pennsylvania. Police determined that the evening before Haith had attended a party in…
Wrongful Conviction#079 Jason Flom with Timothy Tyler
Tim Tyler was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in federal prison for selling LSD while traveling around the country following the Grateful Dead. He was…
Wrongful Conviction#078 Jason Flom with Ndaba Mandela
Following in the footsteps of his beloved and iconic grandfather, Ndaba Mandela has taken the torch of social justice and run with it. Today, Nelson…
Wrongful Conviction#077 Jason Flom and Lara Bazelon with Tony Wright
In her new book Rectify: The Power of Restorative Justice After Wrongful Conviction, Lara Bazelon makes a powerful argument for adopting a model of restorative…
Wrongful Conviction#076 Jason Flom with Doug DiLosa and Chris Pourciau on Amendment 2
In forty-eight other states and in federal courts across the country, a conviction requires a unanimous vote – all jurors must agree on whether a…
Wrongful Conviction#075 Jason Flom with Sadhguru
In this special edition of Wrongful Conviction, Jason Flom is joined by Sadhguru to discuss his revolutionary work that has helped reform prisons throughout…
Wrongful Conviction#074 Jason Flom with Rafael Madrigal
On July 5, 2000, Ricardo Aguilera was shot and wounded in a gang related drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, California. Several witnesses identified 25-year-old…
Wrongful Conviction#073 Jason Flom with Damien Echols (Live from the Church of Rock and Roll)
As a teenager, Damien Echols along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley—known as the West Memphis Three—was convicted in 1994 of killing three…
Wrongful Conviction#072 Jason Flom with Noura Jackson - RE-RELEASE
Noura Jackson was egregiously framed and wrongfully convicted of murdering her mother, Jennifer Jackson, in Memphis, TN in 2005. Amazingly, she spent over…
Wrongful Conviction#071 Jason Flom with Amanda Knox
It’s been over 10 years since the murder of Meredith Kercher, British exchange student killed while studying abroad in Italy. That crime sent an innocent…
Wrongful Conviction#070 Jason Flom with Susan King
Susan King served nearly seven years behind bars for a crime she didn’t commit. In November 1998, a fisherman found the body of 40-year-old Kyle Breeden…
Wrongful Conviction#069 Jason Flom with Kim Kardashian West
Kim Kardashian West first heard about Alice Marie Johnson through a short video about Johnson’s life behind bars on Twitter. Alice Marie Johnson, a…
Wrongful Conviction#068 Jason Flom with Raymond Santana
It’s been almost 30 years since the brutal rape and beating of the Central Park Jogger that sent five innocent men to prison—they were known as the…
Wrongful Conviction#067 Jason Flom with Luis Vargas
In 1999, Luis Vargas was convicted and sentenced to fifty-five years to life in prison for three sexual assaults. He was accused of being the notorious…
Wrongful Conviction#066 Jason Flom and Michael Rubin with Meek Mill
Since his release in April 2018, Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill is using his voice and freedom to fight on behalf of those still behind bars. In this special…